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CU-Boulder concerned about plan to de-fund poli sci research

Congressional amendment restricts NSF funding

By Brittany Anas Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
04/22/2013 07:50:59 PM MDT

Updated:
04/22/2013 07:51:33 PM MDT

University of Colorado leaders are concerned about an amendment passed by Congress to the budget bill that bans the National Science Foundation from funding political science research unless it promotes national security or the economy.

The funding equates to about $11 million a year nationally, or less than 1 percent of the NSF budget. But the NSF is the main external research funding agency for political science research at CU.

De-funding the NSF research has broader academic freedom implications, as well. Chancellor Phil DiStefano said CU needs to "remain vigilant and take an active role in heading off efforts to constrict the kind of research we do."

"We must continue to work with the Association of American Universities and other national organizations to bring universities together to fight off efforts to limit certain types of research, based on the popular mood of the moment," DiStefano said in a town-hall address last week.

Since 2002, $1.95 million in NSF funding has been awarded to faculty members in the political science department, according to David Brown, a political science professor and chairman of the department. He said in some cases the grant money may not have come specifically from the "political science" section of the NSF because so much of the research that CU faculty members do has an interdisciplinary component.

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Also, in the last five years, the NSF has awarded five graduate dissertation awards to CU political science students, totaling $50,000, according to Brown.

University officials are waiting for clarification of how the new rule could affect future research -- for example, what happens to grants that have already been awarded, and what about research that draws some conclusions about homeland security or the economy but does not solely focus on those topics?

One concern for Brown is the threat to the NSF-funded American National Election Studies, a gold mine of political data with information from every U.S. presidential election since Harry Truman's unexpected victory in 1948. The information is largely used by political science faculty members, including many at CU, who are conducting analyses.

Also, Brown said, universities need to be cautious of political interest groups or organizations with biases trying to sponsor political science research in the absence of the NSF funding.

Brown, in 2001, received a $150,000 grant from the NSF to conduct research about how non-governmental organizations can affect politics in the Brazilian Amazon and the impact democracy has on human capital and social spending. That research led to four published papers, and it's an example of what would not meet the new requirement.

Another CU faculty member, Scott Adler, used NSF funding to create a database that provides information about more than 400,000 bills introduced by U.S. Congress beginning in 1947. The database is used by researchers studying legislative behavior, policy experts and even citizens studying their family histories.

"Studies of presidential executive power and Americans' attitudes toward the Senate filibuster hold little promise to save an American's life from a threatening condition or to advance America's competitiveness in the world," Coburn wrote in a letter to NSF Director Subra Suresh, explaining his proposal.

The amendment has raised ire from academic groups including the American Association of University Professors and the American Political Science Association.

"The amendment creates an exceptionally dangerous slippery slope," the political science association wrote in a statement. "While political science research is most immediately affected, at risk is any and all research in any and all disciplines funded by the NSF. The amendment makes all scientific research vulnerable to the whims of political pressure."

CU professor Ken Bickers said he's had three NSF grants throughout the years but is not now receiving any funding from the organization.

"A component of my research agenda for the past two decades has been on how federal fiscal policies play important roles in the ways local political leaders cooperate, or fail to cooperate, in response to positive externalities that are produced by those policies," Bickers said. "This sort of research would no longer be fundable under the new restrictions on NSF. Fortunately, I have already collected large amounts of data and am able to continue my research without the need for another NSF grant in the near term."

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